There Are No Accidental Tourists

Café La Pecera, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Calle del Marqués de Riera 2

I like this Café. On the other side of enormous picture windows cars on the Calle Alcalá hurry to their destination. But inside the "fishbowl," calm and quiet reign. Two tasteful black and white male nude lithographs flank the entrance. After a while I notice there are framed nudes on every wall, tastefully balancing the world of art and sex, body and representation. I drink coffee among bodies that are two dimensional, without forgetting that this very afternoon I denied the pleasures of my own.

The relationship to place: my heart swells, the backdrop of this day comes into full view. I feel so grounded, hot in the sun and cool in the shade. Leaving La Pecera, these bricks, these old granite slabs, support me as I turn the corner into the unknown of the immediate future.

There are no accidental tourists. I'm a stranger, sometimes, in my own backyard, but not here.